


I Will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible

by Careza4251



Category: The X files
Genre: F/M, Insomnia, Light Angst, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-03
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-23 23:12:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2559275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Careza4251/pseuds/Careza4251
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After shooting Pfaster Scully can't sleep, she finds herself seeing shadows and having bad dreams. The lack of sleep keeps her away from work and Mulder starts to worry.</p><p>Edit: summary changed to acommodate the story better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so I'm sorry if I make awfully huge mistakes. Corrections are always more than welcome just try to be kind. I might write references to songs but they could be songs that were released yesterday as songs released ages ago just for the sake of my scrambled ideas *cough* I mean the sake of the story. Thanks for reading and I hope you like it.  
> Oh and one last thing Scully and Mulder don't belong to me but to Chris Carter and 1013... but Marie, Thomas and Ian are entirely mine... you'll see who they are.

Scully blinked fast to let the sleep fade from her head, then sighed and turned to look at the red digits from Mulder's clock on top of his bed side table. "2:15" She whispered feeling drained. 

After Scully had shot Pfaster a few hours ago in her living room, Mulder said that it was best for her to spent the rest of the night at his place. She had been so mentally and physically exhausted that she couldn't refuse. 

When they arrived to his apartment Mulder told her to sleep in his bed while he took the couch. Rubbing her right eye with the back of her hand Scully silently headed to the bathroom first, thinking she could sleep for the rest of the night and maybe, if she was lucky, until next year.

But here she was. Almost 4 hours had passed and Scully couldn't sleep but not because she didn't want to but because she was afraid. Afraid of opening her eyes and find Pfaster staring at her at the other side of the room. Scully scolded herself every time that thought crossed her mind. Pfaster was dead and he could not hurt her anymore but every single time she started to doze off the thought would blossom in her mind once again and she would remain fully awake.

She kept looking at the clock until 2:18 and then got out of bed. It was impossible for her to remain still, so Scully decided to get dressed and head back to her apartment. She had a mess to clean. 

So after putting a pair of pants, a shirt and her ankle boots on from the night bag she had brought, Scully opened Mulder's bedroom door slowly and peeked hoping to find him sleeping. She held a relieved sigh after seeing him fast asleep still holding the remote with loose fingers. 

Scully reached the coffee table as quietly as she could and grabbed a pen and a napkin, scribbled a note, turned off the tv, covered Mulder with a blanket that had been lying on the floor and tiptoed to the door glancing back only once.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scully gets to her apartment and cleans the traces from the night before

Robert Charles had been driving his cab for the last two hours through the city when he spotted an astonishing  
red headed lady drawing her hand out of one of her pockets to call his attention. When the woman got inside of the car, Robert glanced at her through the mirror and asked where she was heading and after she told him he started the car without taking his eyes out of her. 

He realised she was incredibly beautiful but looked too pale, actually she looked like she had seen a ghost... or even  
worse, she was one, a beautiful, yet fading ghost.  
"Are you ok, miss?" Robert asked truly concerned.  
"Yes, I'm fine, thank you"The red headed lady said after giving him a small smile. The man nodded and returned her smile.

"What's your name?" The cab driver asked trying to hold a conversation with her.  
"Dana... Dana Scully" She said with an emotionless voice.  
Robert then thought of a story he had heard last year from one of his colleagues about a woman getting on cabs at  
three in the morning. The woman would tell the driver where to go and when they got there she would say that she had died in that place and then she would disappear from the car. Robert had thought that that was one of the most ridiculous stories he had ever heard in his life but right now it felt too real. 

He glanced at his wristwatch. 3:02 am. Robert swallowed hard.

"What's yours?"She asked keeping her eyes on whatever was outside the window.  
"Robert Charles"  
"Well, nice to meet you Mr. Charles" She said in a voice that had been almost a whisper.  
"Nice to meet you too Miss Scully" Robert replied a little bit nervous while stopping on a red light.  
"We are almost there" she said most to herself. Robert's forehead was now covered with a thin film of cold sweat. 

"Here it is" Robert announced intending to sound casual. Scully nodded and after paying him she opened the door but didn't go out. Robert's heart was about to pop out of his chest.  
"Is everything ok, Miss Scully?"  
"I... I actually don't want to get inside... but I guess I have to...even though I almost di... I'm sorry, I'm not making much sense, am I?... anyways, thank you for bringing me home Mr. Charles" She said, finally stepping out from the car and closing the door behind her.

Robert shivered and felt like throwing up. This was going to be a great story to tell later that day.

___________________________________

Scully found herself frozen beside her front door, holding her keys but not intending to use them. Tears started to run down her cheeks, falling on her shirt.

She took a deep breath and opened the door but kept her eyes closed feeling unprepared to see what her place looked like. 

After closing the door she opened her eyes and her lips trembled, her tears started to fall faster. Fear welled up in her stomach, swallowing her organs and instead leaving a black hole in their place. She fell on her knees beside her apartment door and started panting. A panic attack was on it's way but she couldn't let herself crumble, not right now, she needed to clean Pfaster's trace from her house first, then Scully would let herself sink in a huge pit of self loathing, hate and mostly fear, but in the meantime she will lock her emotions away and get this over with.

Scully took every single cleaning supply she owned and started to fix her living room starting with the ceiling. Pieces of Pfaster's skull were stuck in the linoleum and she felt the urge of burning the whole damn place instead of continuing with her task.

She knew that nobody else could to this for her, she was the only one who could thoroughly get rid of last night's nightmare and be sure of never finding a sequel of what had happened later on. 

It took her three hours of fierce scrubbing, lots of disinfectant liquids and radiohead songs bursting in her ears through her headphones to leave her apartment in a better shape.

Her bedroom's bookshelf was broken, her mirror as well but she wouldn't replace them, Scully would actually throw them away and pretend she never had them along with the countless candles and bathtub salts Pfaster had touched the night before.

She looked at her wristwatch. It was 6:35 am but she still didn't feel like going to sleep. Instead Scully laid on the floor drawing her knees to her chest and sobbed as hard as she could letting a thick sheet of fog made of dread choke her. Eventually she would get up from the floor, get her clothes off and get inside her blankets not closing the curtains.

Not darkness, not right now.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mulder looks for Scully in her apartment and she has a nightmare involving Pfaster.

Mulder stirred after feeling a sun ray practically piercing his eyelids with its intensity. It was 7:52 am. His mind felt foggy and his train of thoughts was not making much sense right now. 

He got up from the couch and ran his hands across his face. Realisation stroke him hard enough to make his heart rate raise considerably.  
"Scully" Mulder whispered.

He got to his bedroom door and before opening it he knocked lightly. When no answer came Mulder opened the door without hesitation to find Scully gone along with her bag and the bed being made.

He looked in the bathroom but even before doing it he was sure she wasn't there. 

Mulder sighed audibly and sat down on his couch hoping she was fine and wondering why she had left without saying anything.

He then glanced at the coffee table and saw the napkin with Scully's note.

I had to go home. Thank you for letting me spent the night. -S 

Mulder's stomach made a turn and read the note another four times. I had to go home. It was impossible she had decided to go back to her apartment. maybe she decided to go to her mother's house...or maybe not

After taking his phone, Mulder dialled the number he knew by heart and waited for her to answer "Please Scully... pick up..."

He gave up when his seventh call was not answered and grabbed his shoes, keys, wallet and gun.

"What the hell are you doing Scully?" He said while opening the door of his car at the other side of the street. 

_________________________________________ 

Mulder couldn't even wait for her to open the door so he used his key instead, waiting for the smell of rotting blood strike his nose but he was utterly surprised when he found the living room incredibly clean, a strong smell of strawberries and a faint cinnamon one. 

Panic raised on the top of his stomach wondering from where Scully had dragged the strength to clean all this mess by herself.

Mulder knew it hadn't been a crime scene cleaning team because when they cleaned no smell was left behind, not even a pleasant one and the strawberry scent... well... he was sure he had smelled it at her place before just not that strong. 

He took two long breaths and walked to her bedroom. He really wanted her to be ok. And why wouldn't he?, after all she was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. 

After opening the door, he found Scully sleeping under heavy blankets and countless pillows around her. She looked worried and scared. Her brow was furrowed and she seemed to be dreaming.

Mulder stepped in quietly and sat on the floor near the bed. It's not fair he thought why all of this has to happen to her?  
And then the guilt demon that lived inside of him made an appearance It's because of you, idiot.... if you hadn't dragged her with you, she would be having by now everything she have always wanted... you have chained her to you and now you can not let her go because you are afraid of being alone... selfish imbecile

He looked at her again from the floor and sighed feeling tired and letting his demon win this round. 

______________________________________

The rays under the water were fading one by one and nothing but darkness rested before her. So she drifted further into nothing and waited to see if she would ever know what's at the end of the sea. 

Breathe, Dana... she heard a voice saying in the darkness It's just water... Breathe... only one breath is enough... do it... drown with us

The voice sounded so close yet so far and Scully shivered as she felt something brushing her arm.

Don't go... stay... stay and breathe... it's just water... it's water The voice continued.

She then felt somebody grab her shoulders and whispered We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.  Scully recognised the voice this time. It was Pfaster, she was sure of it. His face suddenly appeared in front of her smiling wickedly Drown **for** me He said drawing his hands around her neck **DROWN!**

Scully woke up panting. Sitting straight fast, she put a hand on top of her heart. It was beating wildly.

Mulder's head seemed to appear from the edge of her bed all from the sudden. She couldn't hold the scream that had been trapped in her throat since last night.

"It's ok, It's just me Scully... It's ok" He reassured reaching for her hand and when she took his, hesitating at the beginning while trying to connect her thoughts to reality, Mulder dragged her near him and held her in his arms tight.

Scully then released heavy sobs feeling immediately embarrassed but she couldn't stop. If she didn't let them out, she would go insane.

"Bad dream, huh?" Mulder asked. He knew it was a stupid question but it was the only way he found to get her to talk. But he actually failed. All she gave to answer his question was a simple nod. She had stopped sobbing but tears were still falling.

Mulder looked above her head to see The Call of Cthulhu on her bed side table. "I should tell your Nanny to stop reading Lovecraft stories for you before bed time " Scully finally raised her head to give Mulder an incredulous look and then chuckled. "Yes, I think you should do that"

Mulder then grabbed Scully's face between his hands and kissed her forehead. "Are you ok?" Great, Another stupid question He thought.

"I'll be fine" She answered glancing at her living room. Mulder followed her gaze and held his breath.

"Let's get out and grab something to eat"He said. Both were still staring at the living room.

" I don't feel like eating"

" Please, Scully Humor me. And even if your not hungry fresh air would be more than fine, don't you think?"

Scully nodded at that and went to the bathroom to take a shower. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first part of Scully's dream was inspired by a comic I read on comics.soup.io called The Astronaut which I thought was absolutely amazing and I made some changes to fit the story along with a small phrase from The Call of Cthulhu by Lovecraft because... well I adore that book... and I had to stick some part of it somewhere. Therefore I apologise for it not making much sense in the plot. Cheers to you for reading once again!.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mulder and Scully go out for breakfast and she can sleep for a few hours... but let's not get used to that.

Scully had to get undressed and take a shower with closed eyes. The feeling of opening them was unbearable. She was afraid of seeing the candles and the spilled wax that weren't there anymore. 

It didn't take too long for her to get out of the bathroom. The shower was not a safe place today. 

Later on, while Scully was getting dressed she saw "The Call of Cthulhu" beside her bed and recognised what Pfaster had said in her dream. 

Reading Lovecraft was not a good idea before bed. Even if she had read it 5 days ago, parts of the story were stuck in her head.  
Maybe she could continue reading it some other time when she were no longer dealing with her own fears. The ones that were actually there the night before.

She wondered if Pfaster was her personal monster, her own Cthulhu and then shivered at the thought of Pfaster covered in tentacles trying to choke her and pop her eyes out of their socket.

"Ok, that's enough" she whispered "this is self torture" Now she was craving the fresh air outside her apartment... and if the air was coming from the other side of the city, that would be even better. 

_______________________________________________ 

Mulder was waiting for Scully to get ready, sitting on her couch. 

He was still amazed at how clean the place was. It is practically shining He thought.  I would have destroyed the fucking building first instead of doing it myself... Damn, she is incredible

"Are you ready?" Scully's voice broke his reverie from behind the couch.

He smiled and nodded.

_______________________________________________ 

Mulder drove to a restaurant downtown. Scully had finally agreed to eat something and he was going to take the opportunity to take her to a place where properly food was served.

When they got there Mulder opened the passenger's door for her and she mouthed a " Thank you " along with a big smile.

He watched her walk towards the restaurant looking amazing. For some reason she had decided to wear a blue sundress with black ballet flats and a black sweater. He had never seen her on a sundress before. It was like looking at a porcelain doll 

" Mulder, is everything ok? " Scully asked when she realised Mulder was not walking beside her anymore.

" Yes, everything is fine... Shall we?" He said motioning with his hand the door. 

" Can we sit outside instead? " She asked looking at a table near the entrance. 

" Sure... Why not?"

A waitress arrived short after and took their order. Mulder asked for pancakes, scrambled eggs and coffee, while Scully ordered french toast with strawberries and Earl Grey tea.

When the waitress left, Mulder gathered a reasonable amount of strength and started to talk.

" I... I got worried when I realised you had left "

Scully was not meeting his eyes. She kept her gaze focused on something he seemed not to notice across the street. 

" I'm really sorry Mulder... I just... I had to get home "

Mulder narrowed his eyes not satisfied with her answer yet so she continued now looking directly into his eyes.

" It was my way for closure. Cleaning the apartment by myself was something I had to do to be entirely sure that it was really over. And I'm sorry I sneaked out in the middle of the night, but I knew that If I had told what I was intending to do, you wouldn't let me go "

" And you would have been right " He nodded and reached for Scully's hand that was resting now on the table and intertwined his fingers with hers. Her heart started to beat fast at the contact. 

The waitress arrived with their food but they didn't withdrew their hands until the waitress had left in order to take their forks and start eating. 

They ate in comfortable silence smiling occasionally to each other when they raised their eyes from their plates until Scully started to be aware of the music that was in the background. One word had called her attention  underwater and just like that memories from her nightmare were back. She stopped eating and started to pay attention to the song. 

Hold your head underwater ‘till the noises die  
‘till those noises die  
And desire  
like a purpose  
And you gasp

Scully thought on every detail concerning her nightmare. She felt surrounded by non-existing water, something brushing her shoulders once more and of course, the whispers. This time she couldn't understand what they were saying but they were there nonetheless.

Mulder noticed the troubled expression on Scully's face and opened his mouth to ask what was wrong but his phone interrupted him and both gave a small jump on their seats. 

"Mulder" He answered "Sir?... I see... alright, no problem... sure, ... Agent Scully and I... Oh... Yes, she is...Ok, wait a second"

" Skinner wants to talk to you "

"Skinner?" She asked intrigued. Mulder nodded and handed her the phone. 

" Hello Sir... I'm feeling better, thank you... Yes, of course...I understand... That won't be a problem... Good, thank you....Goodbye Sir, have a nice day "

Mulder gave her a puzzled look when she hung up " What did he say?"

"Well, as he told you, you have a case but I'm not going with you. He said that I should take some time out of work and when I get back there would be a hearing about what happened last night..." Scully said letting an exasperated sigh leave her lungs.

"I see... and How... uh... how long " Mulder tried to form a question without sounding a little bit desperate.

" How long do I plan to be away from work?" She finished for him and he nodded." I don't know. Skinner said to take as much time as I want but I don't know how much it is going to be"

"Ok... Do you think Skinner has a crush on you?" He asked all from the sudden trying to give the topic a lighter direction " I mean I ask because under no circumstances he would say to another agent, specially to me, Hey, take as long as you like, but don't forget taking pictures and bring a souvenir"

He tried his best Skinner impression but at the end it was a ridiculous alteration of his own voice.

Her eyes went wide and then both broke in laughter dissipating the little tension that had started to build around them

" That is ridiculous, Mulder "

" Sure, Fine, Whatever" Mulder said grinning at her. 

______________________________________________ 

After a few minutes they finished eating, payed the bill and got back to the car. 

" What do you want to do now, Scully? " Mulder asked stopping at a red light. He was driving nowhere.

" I don't know " She shrugged 

" Do you want to watch a movie?. Plan 9 from outer space is on tonight" Mulder suggested trying to keep his eyes on the road and not in Scully. He will always love the way she looked in that blue dress.

" Sure, that sounds good " Scully said and then stifled a yawn with her hand. She wanted to sleep but her apartment was the last place she wanted to be. 

_______________________________________________ 

They both settled in Mulder's couch close to one another and started channel surfing. Plan 9 from outer space wouldn't start until 5 so they had plenty of time to watch something else. 

" When do you have to go? " Scully asked after yawning. It was the fifth time since the one in the car. He had counted them. 

" What?" He was paying attention at a tear that was streaming down her cheek. Tears always fell when she yawned.

" The case?... Louisiana Skinner said it was? "

"Oh, right, that... uh, the flight is tomorrow morning" Mulder said wiping a tear from her cheek with his thumb 

Scully's face reddened a little and tried to focus on whatever Mulder had found on tv. She tried not to yawn again but it was impossible and did it once more. Mulder chuckled and cleaned again one of her new tears. 

" Why don't you take a nap? I promise I'll wake you up if you are still sleeping before the movie starts "

" Mulder, no, It's..."

" Come on Scully. I promise I'll behave " He said putting his right hand on top of his heart and raising the other like taking an oath.

Scully surrendered with a smile and rested her head in his lap.

She slept through the whole movie. After Mulder woke her up she had only been able of keeping her eyes open during the first 15 minutes and then she let her head fall on the armrest at the opposite side from Mulder in the couch. He had stifled a small laugh after seeing her fall but he was glad she was able to sleep. He had being concerned she would have a similar nightmare like the one she had in the morning. But nothing happened and he felt more than pleased.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's song was Gasp/The reflex  by  To Kill a King... and of course I don't own it... too bad :(  
> Anyway. Again, and always, Cheers!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mulder has a dream about a cracking angel and goes on a case, sort of. 
> 
> Scully sees shadows, gets drunk and meets Marie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long but it was final exams time... but here I am, ready for an update... Oh and I'll give you 20 green pegasus points if you find the song references... there are just 2 on really stupid places, sooo... have fun :)

It was too sunny. 

Mulder found himself lying in soft tall grass, looking at a blue sky.

He got up from the ground, feeling confused and let his eyes wander everywhere finding Scully cross-legged near him, making a flower crown while bitting her bottom lip. Sunlight covered her body like a dress forming an angelical vision. 

He approached feeling glad she was there. 

He fell on his knees facing her back; he then traced her shoulder blades with his eyes looking for feathered wings, but when he got close and attempted to touch her, she started to fade. Mulder panicked and moved his hand far from her as fast as he could fearing she could vanish completely.

Knowing what he intended to find, she stopped her task moving her head and took a look at him above her shoulder. 

"They are not there... angels don't have wings, Mulder" 

Their eyes met and Mulder thought of her as a refraction through a crystal vase, a shard of light. He didn't see much of her as feel her presence.

"What's the crown for?" He asked changing the subject abruptly, laying on his back beside her. 

She shrugged giving little, close to none, importance to what she was doing. They were still holding each other's gaze.

Mulder fought the urge of touching her blazing hair and when he stretched his fingers Scully stopped his movement by trying to grab Mulder's hand but at the slightest touch, like she had touched fire, she winced and took it away. He noticed cracks starting to appear on her hand, through her arm finally on her face. 

___________________________________________________ 

 

Mulder woke up when he felt something move beside him. He opened his eyes to find Scully staring at him. 

"We're about to fall from the couch" She said groggily. 

At some point he had fallen asleep and ended up wrapped around Scully so he pulled her tighter against him and heard her giggle. Mulder was utterly glad she was not cracking like in his dream even though he knew that the gesture might turn out to be an awkward moment in the morning. 

"Problem solved" He murmured instead, breathing the scent in her hair. She smelled like vanilla and bergamot. Mulder found himself praying for morning to never come, he felt unprepared for it, although he knew his wishes would not be granted when the phone rang reminding him of his flight a few hours later. 

___________________________________________________ 

 

Scully could barely remember how she had gotten to that bar or even in what part of the city she was, pretending or at least vaguely hoping she was still in Washington. She shoved down her throat another tequila shot. It was her fourth and by now everything was pretty foggy. The music was not making sense anymore and people far from her were pretty much a blur that moved at different paces around her. 

She tried to remember what she had done to end up there, as she knew that at some point it would be useful to know where she was in order to go home. 

wait... not home... not there...  she thought taking another shot. She winced.  Ok, Dana, don't be ridiculous, think... first, Mulder left you at home on his way to the airport and then, what did you do?... 

_____________________________________________________

"Promise you'll call if you need any help with the case" Scully said before getting out of the car. 

"Sure, don't worry about it" Mulder replied with a smile. 

When they woke up that morning, they were a tangled mess on his couch but remained with a casual demeanour as much as they could. While Scully took a shower Mulder packed what he thought was necessary for the case.

"Say you'll promise, Mulder. We both know you won't do it unless you promise" She said arching an eyebrow. 

"Ok, fine... I promise" He said after a small chuckle.

"Good" Scully seemed satisfied and stepped out from the car. She saw him drive away from the other side of the street. 

Scully was not so sure of going upstairs but she did it anyway. Once there, she changed her clothes, ate something, and watched several movies, she was not particularly willing of doing something productive; her attitude was exceptionally indifferent towards her surroundings, if she paid to much attention there was a slight chance she would have an existential crisis. She was still not ready to face the fact that she had killed somebody in her living room. 

It was 10:22 pm when Mulder called her to say that the case was over.

"Oh, really?" she asked after lowering the volume of her tv.

"Yeah... I'm not sure if I told what all was about... uh... the mayor's niece got missing outside Baton Rouge and a friend that was with her witnessed it. He described the whole situation as an abduction story with blinding lights and missing time" Mulder let out a heavy sigh  
"now, there's the catch, the guy was as high as a kite by then... long story short it was a kidnaping for a ransom, the man who did it was stupid enough to threaten the mayor the week before so he was easy to catch. Can you believe how stupid everything was, Scully? I don't even know why I had to come." He sounded angry and disappointed making Scully feel pretty bad about him.

"I'm sorry it wasn't an X file" She said matter of factly. 

"Nah... it's ok" He sounded calmer now that some of his frustration was out of his chest.

Before ending their conversation they both agreed to go for lunch when he got back after some small talk and that's how Scully thought her day would end; she got ready for bed and closed her bedroom door but when she turned the lights off she saw a human shaped shadow at the other side of the room climbing the walls. 

Scully froze, she could hear her heart beating in her ears along with a burning sensation in her chest and cheeks, her limbs were numb and her brain disconnected from all thoughts. 

Seconds, that felt like hours, went by. The only thing she was able to do was reach the light switch and hope for the best, although when the lights went on Scully didn't know which was worst, the fact that she saw someone climbing her walls or the certainty that there was actually nothing on the corner, not even a coat rack to blame as an excuse.

Scully repeated the motion of turning on and off the lights many times. She kept seeing it. Something was there, she was sure of it but Scully was not going to stay long to find out what it was. The scientific method could go to hell right now. 

After turning the lights on for one last time she got dressed at the verge of crying and stormed out of her apartment. 

____________________________________________________

"Rough night, huh?" A pretty brunette woman asked Scully after sitting next to her on a bar stool. She was around Scully's age and wore a worried look.

"Rough year I would say" Scully replied glancing at her. The woman's left eye seemed to have a different colour from the other but Scully attributed it to the lighting of the bar. 

"Elle, what did you do to the poor woman?" The brunette was talking with the bartender now on the other side of the bar counter. 

The curvy blond bartender laughed before answering "She drank two Martinis and then decided that tequila shots were her besties" she looked amused at the interest the brunette was showing on Scully. 

"Remember what you gave me when I lost my job at the gallery two years ago?" The brunette asked and Elle the bartender nodded. "Good, help her with that"

"Oh come on M, she is having a good time"

"She looks fucking miserable, Elle... Just bring the damn glasses"

"Ok... Either way, why the interest?" Said Elle. The smile in her voice could be heard from miles away.

"You suck as a bartender, you know that? Isn't there a code that says you're supposed to help people at the bar or some shit like that... at least think 'bout gender solidarity or whatever"

"Fine, fine... and by the way, I don't suck as a bartender!" Elle blurted out while moving away from the counter.

Scully lost track of the conversation  Elle  and  M  were having. She was starting to forget which month it was. 

Elle took a few minutes and when she got back she put in front of Scully five big glasses full with water. 

" One glass for each shot" Elle said with a warm smile. The  gender solidarity  thing had done something because she hadn't been particularly nice before.

"What is this?" Scully asked fighting against the motion sickness she was experiencing. 

" Would you believe me if I say those are glasses full with gin?" M asked.

"No, I wouldn't" Scully replied putting her hands on top of the counter trying to ground herself with something, it will be matter of seconds to find her lying on the floor. 

"Good, because they're not... now, drink them, you'll feel better" M said all that with an extreme gentle expression. 

Scully didn't know why she was listening to a complete stranger or why she was trying to help but she obeyed or tried to obey, just the thought of moving her hand and grab the glass of water gave her nausea and she had to get up and run towards the restroom, she thanked god, in the middle of her dizziness, it was close to the counter. 

After the alcohol left her system in the most unpleasant way, she splashed cold water on her face feeling more alert and with her new awareness a loathing sensation overwhelmed her.  
What the fuck am I doing?  she thought feeling embarrassed while heading to the bar counter once again.

"She's alive!" Elle yelled when she saw Scully getting out of the restroom. 

"How you feeling?" M asked as she made a crane with her napkin with only one hand while raising a glass with White Russian to her lips. 

"Better, thank you" Scully replied watching the crane in M's hand taking form.

"I told you I could make one with only one hand!" M said excitedly to Elle "Pay me" 

"Hell, I hate you Marie" Elle stated rolling her eyes and gave M a 10 dollar bill. 

To Scully the night had reached the highest level of bizarre so she just put a 20 bill below one of the shot glasses she had drank from earlier and headed to the door. 

"Hey, wait, where are you going?" M called after Scully putting a hand on her shoulder. Scully realised now, looking straight at M, that her eyes indeed didn't have the same colour.

"I'm going home" 

"No no no no, you are not leaving without drinking those glasses of water... you'll thank me tomorrow" M glanced at her wristwatch "... well, you'll thank me later as tomorrow is, as a matter of fact, now... future is an illusion, as well is the past, we are stuck together in the present and blah, blah, blah... come on" M dragged Scully back to the place they were sitting at minutes before, a new White Russian was waiting for her. 

Scully now knew why she felt the need to obey M before and it was because something about her reminded her of Melissa, her easiness and how she used to manage the space around her. Most of her family said that Scully was bossy but it was because they never spent enough time with her sister. 

She drank the five glasses while M made another crane with her left hand, once more raising her White Russian to her lips. 

"Done it!... Elle, you are on a losing streak" 

Elle laughed this time but instead of giving M money, she handed her a business card. 

"Just call him today, the tickets won't be there forever, M" 

M thanked Elle and now was looking at Scully "feeling better?" she asked. 

"Well, I drank a litre of illusions but ended up vomiting realities" Scully said bitterly and M smiled at her answer

"Hey M, you should take her to Patrick's upstairs, she could use some coffee" Elle said playing with one of M's cranes.

"What's Patrick's?" Scully asked. Yes, it was bizarre, she kept being dragged by somebody she didn't know but she had no idea of how to say  no .

"Patrick is a friend who has a coffee shop upstairs and makes the best Eclairs in the whole world" Elle replied

"Ok, I don't want to sound stupid but what's an Eclair?"

"Jesus, Woman, you don't know what an Eclair is?" Scully shook her head at M's words "Ok, then, let's get going"

____________________________________________________ 

Scully and M got out from the bar through a back door and used a metal staircase on the side of the building. On normal circumstances Scully wouldn't be following the stranger who acted like her sister around unknown places but since she threw up her body got into automatic mode and whatever sense of self-preservation she owned shut down. That's why she hated being drunk and partially explained why she had gotten a tattoo and almost slept with Jerse but that was another story under different circumstances.

They reached the top of the stairs to see a red neon sign that only said  Patrick's  beside an open glass door. The smell of coffee lightened Scully's mood. When they got inside Scully was surprised to see the place crowded; dawn was close but nobody seemed to mind. The coffee shop had red and black walls, white wood floor and small glass tables and chairs. The vintage posters on the walls were the things that Scully liked the most along with chandeliers that looked out of place at the beginning but when you saw the whole picture they were exactly where they should be. Scully could hear Norah Jones singing in the background and as weird as it could sound the concept of home  had changed a little but maybe she thought that because she was still kind of drunk.

"Hey, M, long time no see " A Tall young dark-haired man approached them with a big smile. 

"Patrick, Hi!" M said walking the few steps that remained between each other and hugged him. Patrick hugged her back and lifted her a little bit from the floor. " Umh, this is my friend... " 

"Dana, I'm Dana Scully" 

"Nice to meet you then, Dana. It's always a huge pleasure when I get to meet M's friends" Patrick added with a dazzling smile petting M's hair and she pouted a little at the gesture. Scully was not in her entire senses to know if Patrick was really tall or M was as small as Scully herself. "So, what can I get you?" 

"I would say, two Eclair's, a cup of Earl Grey with milk and... What are you going to drink Dana?" M said shaking her head to make Patrick's hand fall from her long wavy hair.

"Black coffee would be great" Scully replied. 

Patrick nodded and before he left he turned around to say " You should go to the roof and watch the sunrise, there are no clouds so it's going to look amazing" 

M then grabbed Scully's wrist and opened another door at the end of the coffee shop to reveal the roof with more people outside sitting on top of blankets and eating pastries while looking at the sky. The concept of  home  kept changing slightly. They both sat on a blanket with a pad that served as a table near the front part of the roof; it was a chilly morning but it was soothing as it was keeping Scully awake and incredibly comfortable. Patrick soon came with their food and sat with them in the blanket, he told Scully he never missed a sunrise. She soon felt observed and turned to see M and Patrick staring at her with excitement in their eyes. 

"What is it?" she asked unable to contain a chuckle.

"We are waiting for you to take a bite of the Eclair" M and Patrick said in unison. This time Scully laughed wholeheartedly taking the pastry in her hand. When she took a bite her eyes went wide and thought that if biting clouds were possible that would be exactly how it would feel. 

"It's amazing" Scully said after taking another bite.

M and Patrick smiled satisfied and clapped a little. Scully laughed again. 

"Hey, here comes the sun" Patrick said pointing at the skyline. "doo, doo, doo, doo" M chimed. The sky had developed a pink and violet tone and it was one of the most beautiful things Scully had seen in her entire life, she then made the purpose of bringing Mulder someday and watch a sunrise together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally started to write what it's actually on the story summary... kind of. Sorry for taking so long. Either way, cheers for reading. Oh, one last thing, did you get your 20 green pegasus points?


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mulder comes back from Louisiana and Scully decides not to tell him about her lurking shadow

It was the rain that made her go inside the bar and the music the reason that made her stay the night before. Scully had been walking for a while now, immersed in her thoughts when water droplets started to fall. She felt the need to keep walking but that would only make her sick, the result being of staying at home with the only company of the  non-friendly, wall-climber  shadow. So she got inside the first place that looked kind of decent and got welcomed by Joy Division songs and a dim lit bar with walls filled with words written in neon ink. It wasn't as bad as she thought. 

She sat at a bar stool beside the counter and asked for a martini. Everything pointed out to the fact that she had no other choice but to drink as the rain was not willing to stop. Scully considered the possibility of forgetting what she saw on her apartment but what they don't tell you is that alcohol doesn't make you forget your problems, on the contrary, it makes your mind rewind every single detail of what troubles you and makes slush out of your unrelated memories. Scully's case was no different. 

________________________________________________ 

"So what did you do?" 

"I put my hand inside the jar, took one of the bugs out and ate it" Scully said hiding her smile behind a coffee mug. 

Marie covered her mouth with her hand and laughed as hard as she could "what did it taste like?" she tried to make a disgusted expression but her laughter prevailed. 

"I don't know, while it was in my mouth all I could thing about was how crunchy it was and the sound it made when I chewed it... You should have seen my partner's face when I ate that thing" 

It was past 10 am and Scully was still in Patrick's coffee shop with Marie. 

After watching the sunrise they went inside and settled in one of the tables, Patrick left short after as Marie explained that he always went home after sunrise and left somebody else to take care of the coffee shop until he comes back at night. A new guy took Patrick's place and kept bringing them coffee and tea. 

Scully had been talking with Marie all morning making leaps in their comments from one topic to an unrelated one. She felt she was having conversations with Melissa, even at some point Marie talked about astrological signs and how events were meant to be. 

Marie's phone rang interrupting their current conversation about the X File Mulder and Scully had in Gibsonton, Florida. 

"What do you mean you broke it?... You do realise that it was a really expensive piece, don't you?... Oh, God... Ok, I'm on my way" Marie hang up trying to hide her anger. "Sorry Danes, I have to go. The guy that works with me at the art gallery broke a sculpture. I got to get there and see what I can do" 

Scully nodded at Marie's words with disguised resignation. Both headed towards the street as Scully felt no reason to stay. Time to face reality. 

__________________________________________________ 

When Scully said goodbye to Marie she realised her home was only 8 blocks away heading west. 

Fear combined with a burning sensation in the top of her stomach made her question what she would do next. She knew that Marie had only been a distraction so she could remain awake and away but what was next?. Scully knew that staying with her mother, at least for a while, was not a choice, just by parking her car outside Mrs. Scully's home, she would immediately know something was wrong with her daughter and giving worries to her mother was not Scully's goal, she hadn't even told her about what happened with Pfaster and made Mulder promise he wouldn't do it either. She also felt reluctant of telling Mulder about what she saw, he might not only worry but find a reason to blame himself for not being with her when it happened. 

A bigger reason appeared in Scully's head that made her cringe: what if Mulder on an unconscious retaliation for every time she didn't believe what he saw, refuses to believe her. He could believe in aliens, big foot and conspiracies inside dorito's bags but what if this time was different, what if he somehow thought that whatever had climbed her bedroom walls was not real or her mind for some reason was making it up. If Mulder didn't believe her, she was sure her world, or what remained of it, would crumble. So Scully choose not to tell Mulder about her lurking shadow and did what she always does best, build walls around her soul and lock her emotions away. 

She started walking towards her home hoping that the shadow wouldn't have the nerve to appear in broad day light, if she was lucky it wouldn't appear at all. 

_____________________________________________________ 

Mulder stretched his arms making a few of his bones pop before hailing a cab. 

It had been an awful flight, a baby cried most of the time and the lady next to him kept making gagging sounds whenever the plane made small unexpected movements, which were a lot. The flight was packed so he couldn't change seats hence he had to suck up 2 hours and 31 minutes of pure annoyance. 

When he got inside of a cab he looked at his watch noticing it was just 8:40 am and felt a tinge of disappointment cross his features. It was to early to show up at Scully's place but he really wanted to see her. Mulder had been thinking about her since he left, wondering what she was doing, if she was ok and if she had nightmares, he thought on his dream too and how beautiful she had looked wrapped in light; He had deliberately omitted the part were she cracked. 

He instead got to his apartment to change his clothes and unpack. When he finished, Mulder sat down on his couch and channel surfed for a while glancing constantly at the hour cast on his VCR. At 10 he couldn't hold his urge to see Scully and drove to Georgetown. 

_____________________________________________________ 

Scully stepped on the curb in front of her building when she noticed Mulder's car and frowned, she wonder why he was there so early taking a deep breath and entering the building. 

She saw him knocking at her door and panic raised inside of her.  please don't be inside, please  she thought whilst a memory from the night before clouded her vision. 

Mulder turned away from the door thinking Scully was not at home when he gained awareness of her presence at the other side of the hallway. He raised his hand and made a small wave at her along with a smile feeling immediately stupid. Scully took a few seconds to ground herself in the present and waved back. 

"Hi, Mulder. I thought we were going to meet for lunch" Scully said taking her keys from the back pocket of her jeans and putting them on the lock.

"Uh... yeah, I know... I just thought we could do something in the meantime... but if you want I can come back later" 

Scully saw his face redden a little in embarrassment with his eyes cast low and smiled. "No, don't go" she said putting her hand on his forearm " But you don't mind if I take a shower first, right?"

Mulder raised his head to look at her, a spark running through his eyes "No, of course I don't" 

By the time Scully opened the door, her walls were already up and her home became just a space filled with furniture and no meaning, no life and no purpose but to remain still. She was not going to lose against the thing that was hiding somewhere in her apartment, she would not let it see her fall and for that she needed to control her emotions. As long as she didn't acknowledge the presence of the shadow, Scully was sure everything would be fine.

While Scully took a shower Mulder waited for her in her living room. He had turned the tv on and started to watch a baseball game, it was Yankees vs. Red Sox but he had stopped paying attention long ago, Mulder was actually thinking about Scully. When he saw her on the hallway he waved to hide the concern that was choking him, it was a distraction disguised as a silly gesture to keep her attention away from his face, he thought it wouldn't work, but it did as Scully didn't ask what was wrong. She had looked extremely pale, with strong dark circles under her eyes and a frightened almost miserable expression. He had naturally wanted to ask if she was ok but Mulder knew his question would be dismissed by her usual  I'm fine  and he wouldn't push as he knew that taking at least a few words about what was wrong out of her was nearly impossible, she would build walls and wouldn't let him in. He didn't know she already had. 

As Scully left the bathroom and then her bedroom wearing different clothes, Mulder began to channel surf again breaking his reverie. 

"Do you want something to drink?" Scully asked from behind the couch. 

"No, thanks, I'm good" He replied looking back at her. She had used some concealer but Mulder knew the dark circles under her eyes were still there. "Come, sit with me" He said patting the spot on the couch beside him. 

"How was your flight?" Scully asked sitting close to him. 

"Well, if you find appealing babies crying all the time and people gagging beside you, it was great. I should have started to sing Shaft's theme song to make the mood for the rest of the people on the plane" 

Scully snorted at Mulder's words and ran her hand through her hair. Mulder could see she was tired. 

__________________________________________________ 

They had decided to eat Turkish food from a restaurant down Scully's street. They walked there, sat and ate in complete silence. Scully ordered baklavas and Mulder ordered a plate of adana kebab. The silence between them wasn't the comfortable silence they normally share when they eat but a silence filled with dread coming from her. Something was bothering Scully but Mulder had no idea of how to approach the subject without giving her a chance to dodge it, she was an expert at doing that. 

When they finished their food, they started to walk back to Scully's apartment. All from the sudden Scully wrapped her arm around Mulder's forearm, the gesture took him off guard, everything felt wrong. 

"Are you ok?" he asked hiding the panic that was catching up with him. 

Her answer was a small nod and a yes loosened in a whisper that he barely heard. 

What Mulder didn't know is that before going out of the apartment, Scully had seen the shadow again and that simple vision made not only her new walls start to crack but the line she maintained between logic and reason begin to fracture. She was completely confused at what was real and what's not. 

It had been looking at them from a dark spot between the shelfs where Scully kept her cd's and her books. She hadn't seen it before because that spot was not caught by her peripheral vision. When she took her keys from inside a bowl beside the door and took a look back, there it was, it was waving at her. Mulder had gone out of the apartment first and didn't get the chance to see her petrified in terror. Locking her emotions was proving to be difficult as she didn't know how to hide what she felt from something that wasn't supposed to be there and it's not supposed to be there tomorrow either. 

Mulder stopped at the entrance of Scully's building and she stared at him. 

"Aren't you coming upstairs with me?" she asked, her arm was still wrapped around his forearm. 

"Do you want me to?"

Scully nodded but for Mulder it wasn't enough "I want you to say it Scully" His words were severe and confused Scully for a second but then she understood that her silence was the one that confused Mulder.

"I want you to come upstairs with me" she said looking straight into his eyes, so they climbed the stairs to get inside the building. 

In front of her apartment door Scully removed her keys from the back pocket of her black denim pants when Mulder whispered her name. She turned her head and all she felt was Mulder's arms holding her tight against him. 

Scully had been taken entirely by surprise, enough to not make her hear the clattering sound the keys made when they fell on the ground. She stiffen at first but then relaxed and wrapped her arms around his waist. 

Mulder was still clueless about what he could do to help her but hugged her instead just to let her know that no matter what he would be there to lend her his strength if she ever needs it.

__________________________________________________ 

After what seemed several minutes, Scully unwrapped her arms from Mulder and picked up her keys though she had to actually kneel on the floor to pick them up. Her movements were getting careless as tiredness began to catch up with her. 

They sat on her living room and Mulder let Scully pick something to watch so she fetched her copy of  Laura , the 1944 version and she settled in Mulder's lap in the same way she had when they tried to watch  Plan 9 from outer space  and he didn't mind at all. 

During the movie he glanced at her and tried to not touch her hair but he wanted to do it so badly that by the time he decided it was a bad idea his hand was already caressing the soft auburn strands on her head. She didn't even noticed, she seemed to be somewhere else. 

When  Laura  was over Scully insisted he pick something else.

Mulder reached for the remote and felt lucky when he found a broadcast of  Plan 9 from outer space  again. Scully snorted at his excitement but that looked like the only thing she could manage to do. Though he tried to somehow lighten her mood by making the smart-ass comments that would usually make her laugh he realised they were not working, sometimes he would just receive a small hum from her as a polite response to acknowledge his words, sometimes she wouldn't even blink. He knew that she needed time to get herself together but he had no energy to keep trying today, he would start again tomorrow. This time he was the one who fell asleep during the movie.

__________________________________________________ 

Scully was not sure when exactly Mulder had stopped making his comments, she just knew that at some point she was unable to listen to his voice. She had been paying close attention to what was on tv and still couldn't understand why Mulder liked that movie so much but kept watching it nonetheless as she knew it was something that made him happy. 

After the movie was over, she turned her head to see him fast asleep with his head rested in the back of her couch, his mouth was open and when he let a loud snore come out Scully couldn't contain her laughter but then felt bad for him as she knew he couldn't be comfortable that way. 

"Mulder... Mulder wake up" she whispered running her hand across his arm very softly. 

When Mulder woke up he saw Scully propped up on her knees watching him intently. "I should go" he said rubbing his eyes.

"I don't think you are in your five senses to drive, Mulder... Why don't you stay?"

This was Mulder's turn to be taken by surprise but at the end he just nodded stifling a yawn. "Do you have blanket I can use?" 

"Mulder, I don't mind sharing with you... I, uh, actually owe you one for letting me sleep in your bed a few nights ago... there's a sofa-bed on the guest room but it's not the same" Scully then raised from the couch taking a few steps and look back to see if Mulder was following her, which he was as he didn't need her to say more, he was already convinced. 

Once in her room Scully took one navy blue silk pyjamas from the top drawer of her closet and got inside the bathroom. In the meantime, Mulder took his shoes, socks and pants off, leaving them on a pile beside her bed. 

"Mulder, do you think we would ever be able to watch Plan 9 from outer space together?" Scully asked coming out from the bathroom after covering a yawn with her hand. Before Mulder could reach her to clean the tear running down her cheek, she wiped it off with her fingertips.

"I don't know Scully, maybe it's not for us" He said now helping her to remove the cushions on top of her bed along with the bedspread.

" Yeah, maybe not" Scully said turning the lights off. Both got in bed at the same time "Goodnight Mulder"

"Goodnight Scully"

Mulder fell fast asleep but by the time Scully started to doze off she started to hear certain scratching noises near her. When she opened her eyes the shadow was there sitting at the corner scratching the wall. It was going to be a long, long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's just pretend that Mulder and Scully ate lunch very, very, but soooo very late so they could watch the movies that are not long AT ALL! and not go to bed like at 4 pm.  
> Cheers people!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scully spends an awful night and can't help Mulder with a case

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a short part of what I consider ugly details of the autopsy Scully has to make concerning the "rat torture"... just thought you needed to know... sorry...

Scully saw this as a challenge to test her patience and her strength. She hadn't slept at all since yesterday and now it looked like it would go on and on. 

When Scully opened her eyes to find the shadow scratching the wall, it immediately stopped and sat on the floor tilting it's head. The bastard seemed to love the attention it was getting. She was a hundred percent sure it was grinning at her even though it had no facial features, the sensation was terrifying. 

Scully moved a little to check on Mulder and see if he heard the scratching but he was sound asleep, she sighed and turned back to look at the shadow. It kneeled closer to her now and she felt her heart flipping over.  you have to be fucking kidding me  she thought. 

Something inside of her made Scully stay still for what was left of the night, which she thought was exasperating at the beginning but as time went by her fear started to subside, she was glad she was not moving as it seemed to make the shadow remain still as well. What felt like an staring contest between them, lasted hours.

Scully was laying on her belly with her arms under the pillow and eyes locked with heavy lids on the shadow by the time the sun started to rise. She felt exhausted and couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, so for a few seconds she closed them until something blocked the little light that went through the small space between the window and her curtains. Scully couldn't believe something that wasn't real could control her like that. Because it wasn't real, right?. 

She opened her eyes to find the shadow just a few inches from her face and Scully couldn't help but gasp loudly and shiver. 

"Scully?... is everything ok?" Mulder asked groggily, shifting so he could watch her but she was facing the other way. 

Instead of answering she forced herself to close her eyes one more time and pretend to be sleeping. She knew he was not seeing the shadow so she found no reason to let him know.

Few minutes passed and Mulder threw his legs out of the bed and groaned while stretching, he then raised and headed to the bathroom holding his clothes in one hand. When he got out, he approached to the side of the bed where Scully was and crouched down. 

"Scully" he whispered "Hey, Scully"

She opened her eyes slowly, feigning her recent  awakening . 

"Hi, sleepyhead" He said moving a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Hi yourself" she answered directing her eyes for just a second to the corner, the shadow was not there and she released a heavy sigh.

"I'm going home to get ready for work but I'll call you later, alright?" 

"Sure, no problem"

Mulder nodded though Scully didn't see him as she had closed her eyes again. She looked sick. 

"Ok, bye Scully... oh and thanks for letting me stay" He voiced not knowing what else to say.

"Don't mention it" Her voice sounded muffled against her pillow. And so he left her apartment. 

When Scully heard him leave, she threw the blankets away from her and raised from the bed as fast as she could. She was determined to check if the shadow was really gone, so she looked under the bed, inside her closet, the shower along with the respective cabinets in the bathroom, Scully even looked under the fridge and found nothing. Her relieved sigh was all that was heard in her apartment after she let herself fall on her living room floor, it had been only two days and she was praying for it to stop and why wouldn't she, seeing things that were not supposed to be around was not precisely what she could call a great lifestyle. 

On a last effort using her final spark of energy, Scully got up from the floor, turned her bedroom lights on, opened the curtains and laid in bed. She rolled trying to find a good spot to finally sleep and found it where Mulder had been a few minutes earlier, she breathed his scent in her pillow and let a little pleased hum leave her chest after hugging it, starting to fall asleep.

__________________________________________________ 

Scully was standing by the window trying to look outside but there was nothing to look at as the exterior was pitch black. The parquet floor she was standing on felt cold underneath her feet, maybe too cold, so she stepped back from the window in order to sit on the only thing that was in the room, a white and silver chaise longue. 

When she attempted to move raising her left foot first, she felt something sticky that kept her glued to the floor, it was even colder than the parquet. Eventually it started to burn. Scully tried to remove the substance that had a dark blue tone from her foot but it got stuck in her fingers too. Scully could feel it moving, crawling now, but as much as she wanted to, she didn't know how to get it off. Her eyes wandered through out the place just to find Pfaster looking at her from the furthest corner. She wanted to take that disgusting grin he was wearing by giving him an uppercut but by now her whole arm and left leg were numb, the dark substance was covering them. 

Pfaster started to approach and her mind started to race with a million thoughts at the same time, but no matter what she thought, what her survival instincts ordered her to do, her body wouldn't respond as the goo kept moving around her, making a puddle on the floor in which Scully started to sink. 

As Scully started to disappear in the goo, Pfaster kneeled beside what was left of her, his grin never fading away, and pushed her head further inside the liquid, muttering  drown **for** me .

__________________________________________________ 

Scully woke up breathing fast.  
Frustration started to eat her from inside making her throw her pillows across the room on a rage impulse, she was tired and hated the fact that she couldn't leave the subject behind. Scully just wanted to move on, forget Pfaster ever happened and keep going with her life, but it felt too difficult to withdraw from all of this.

Scully looked at the watch on her nightstand trying to figure out how much she slept. It had been only 18 minutes. All from the sudden a spark of a thought bloomed in her mind and then she knew why it was so hard. 

She went to the bathroom determined to take a shower, she hoped boiling-hot water could help her recover her usual poise but when she reached the bathroom's door frame, she resumed her last train of thought and sat on the floor looking at the bath tub with her head against the cabinet under the sink. 

It won't leave me alone because I don't feel guilty...  Scully thought  It is torturing me because instead of feeling bad for taking a life, I feel relieved... It was a situation of him or me and I don't regret what I did, whether Mulder got here or not on time, the outcome would have been the same... and I... don't regret it... I don't... With that thought Scully felt that a part inside of her was getting as cold as ice, the walls she had been waiting for had finally risen. 

She had cried the night she cleaned her apartment because her heart was filled with fear but now the silent tears she was shedding were because she was mourning. She was mourning her withering soul.

__________________________________________________ 

"You asked to see me, Sir?" Mulder asked not quite knowing why Skinner wanted to see him, Kimberly had called his phone early that morning and told him the AD wanted him to go to his office as soon as he got to the Hoover building.

"Sit, Agent Mulder" Skinner said when he saw Mulder at the door.

Mulder made a small recount in his mind of what he had done lately just to check if he was in trouble. 

"I wanted to know how Agent Scully is doing" Skinner said moving some papers aside on his desk.

"She's doing fine" Mulder said not sure of his answer.

"I just want you to give her this" Skinner voiced handing Mulder what looked like a business card. "There's procedure to be followed and she needs to talk to someone about what happened with Pfaster. I want her to talk not to an FBI counsellor but to a psychiatrist, friend of mine."

"With all due respect, Sir, I don't think Agent Scully needs to talk to a psychiatrist." 

"It's not for you to decide. I'm telling you because she didn't answer her phone this morning. That's all."

__________________________________________________ 

Instead of taking a hot shower, Scully opted to take a cold one to stay awake. She knew that sleep deprivation was going to keep her in a bad mood and felt sorry for whoever crossed her path until she could recover her sleep pattern, but she was not willing to give her dreams to Pfaster. Scully new she couldn't tame this demon, maybe not now, but at least she would keep it on a leash.

A distant noise caught her attention so she shut off the shower faucet to be able to listen more closely, It was just her phone. 

Scully got out of the shower dripping water everywhere as she didn't bother to get a towel and picked up the phone shaking a few droplets from her hand so the phone wouldn't slip. 

"Hello?"

"Hey Scully, it's me. How you doing?"

I bet two french vanilla scoops this is about a case  She thought.  
"I'm fine" 

There was a long pause between them but before Scully could ask if everything was ok, Mulder started talking again. 

"Great... look, a case just got here and there's a body I want you to take a look at the morgue. Dr. Barnes will be waiting for..."

I knew it...  Scully lost track of Mulder's words when she noticed the water puddle she was making on the floor.

"... don't you think it's weird Scully?" Mulder asked breaking her reverie.

"Yeah, it is..." Scully had no idea what Mulder just said.

"So, I'll see you at the crime scene"

"You know what? I'll go to the office of the medical examiner and take a look at the body. I'll let you know if I find something"

Before Mulder could say anything, Scully hang up to find a towel and get dry, when she did, she blow dried her hair and searched for something to wear. She was not officially back to work so she didn't feel like wearing anything formal, instead Scully took the first thing she saw in her closet which was an AC/DC  Blow up your video World Tour  tank top, black tight pants and her knee high black combat boots. Scully couldn't care less what she was wearing, she would only take a look at the body, make some notes, tell Mulder what she found and get the hell out of there, so why bother. Her mind state wouldn't allow her to find something proper to wear for work much less solve a case. 

She had to take a cab to the coroner's office to avoid the microsleep she knew she would eventually have and she didn't want it to happen while driving. When she got to the coroners office Dr. Barnes and his assistant were waiting for her. 

"Dr. Scully it's always nice to see you" Said Dr. Barnes shaking Scully's hand as he always used to do. 

"It's nice to see you too Dr. Barnes" Scully replied and gave a small nod to Barnes' assistant. "Agent Mulder told me you have a body for me" 

Barnes nodded and took Scully where the body was. 

Once Scully was ready to make the autopsy, she found that the sight of the poor woman in front of her was not encouraging, something had forced it's way out from her abdomen ripping all the tissue from the thoracic cavity, it was gruesome and she felt guilty for not being in her five senses in order to be more helpful. 

Scully found some animal hairs and few broken stitches around the wounded area, she had the slight suspicion that the woman had been alive when this was done to her. Scully cleared a knot in her throat she had no idea of having.

The thought of reading about the  rat torture  from the medieval times before, crossed her mind and she felt the need to write it down to check for similarities later so she looked for a piece of paper and wrote down a few things when everything around her started to become a blur and her head made an involuntary nod, Scully took a deep breath and blinked fast to make the blurry sensation go away, it did but after another blink words she didn't remember writing showed up in the paper. Scully was already microsleeping, 30 seconds had just passed in front of her and she didn't feel them, her body had made an automatic action.

She looked at the woman, she couldn't do it, she had to leave.

"I'm so sorry" Scully whispered "If I stay, I'll make a mistake and something important will slip away... I'm sorry, I can not help you" 

Scully then threw her gloves on the trash and took her scrubs off, she needed to find Dr. Barnes and ask him to do the autopsy or find somebody else to do it, she just didn't want to make a misjudgement for her lack of alertness and let the person who did it be free because of evidence she was unable to see. 

When Scully found Dr. Barnes she told him she was not feeling well and couldn't examine the body anymore, she actually didn't get the chance to ask him to continue the autopsy as he offered himself to do it with the help of the short notes she had the chance to make as a favour and assured Scully he would call her and Mulder to let them know what he found. She was more than grateful for what Dr. Barnes was doing but she was uneasy as she knew she had to call Mulder to let him know she was not going to help him on the case. 

A few rings of the phone went by and he was still not answering, Scully started to get nervous and she second doubted her decision of getting off the case but at the last ring the phone was finally answered. 

"Mulder, it's me, look..."

Mulder was not on the other side of the phone but a female voice was "I'm sorry, this is detective Bennet from the metropolitan police department. Agent Mulder is questioning a suspect right now and left his phone at my desk..." The detective trailed off as she was expecting Scully to say something. 

"I'm Dana Scully, Agent Mulder's partner... could you please tell him Dr. Barnes will call him with the autopsy results and not me?" Scully felt a little bit relieved Mulder was not on the phone as she didn't want to tell him what was going on.

"I'll let him know, no problem. Do you want him to call you back?" 

"No, just tell him to wait for Dr. Barnes' call and I will talk to him later. Thank you detective Bennet" Scully hang up while hailing a cab on the street. It was a really cold morning and all she could think about was coffee, poached eggs and toasts, she was famished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is taking so long but I had serious doubts of where I was heading. I think I get the big picture now... or at least I hope so... cheers as always.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mulder solves a case without Scully in the field with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt the need of making a chapter of Mulder solving a case to justify his absence from Scully's side, soooo here it is after a whole damn lot of time since I updated the last chapter. 
> 
> P.S: I consider the details of the case a little bit gruesome. I thought you needed to know in case your not into it.

Rebecca Ziegler woke up feeling nauseated and a little bit lost. She didn't remember going to bed last night, in fact, she didn't remember most of what she did the day before, everything that was in her mind was talking with Andrew Nelson, her neighbour, in his backyard about dahlias and garden lilies, after that, the following events were missing. 

She got out of bed feeling her throat extremely dry and a dull pain in her stomach which was a little bit swelled, her limbs also twitched a little. Even though the swelling and the dry throat were not extremely unknown to her as Rebecca's had colon problems since she was a kid, and those were her common symptoms, the missing spams of time were terrifying. 

Rebecca thought that a morning run and lots of water before going to work would make her feel a little better. She would call her doctor when she got back. 

Once outside her house, Rebecca waved at Andrew Nelson who was watering his dahlias on his front yard. She regretted doing it, something in the way he smiled and waved back made her cringe. 

She started to run faster as if she needed to get away from him. Rebecca remembered now how he threw unsettling innuendos making her feel awfully uncomfortable right after they stopped talking about his flowers the day before. To be honest, he did that a lot. 

When she was near Palisades park, an unbearable pain in her stomach made her stop. Rebecca then panicked when she felt something moving inside of her, she could feel something trying to fight it's way out, scratching her insides. 

A little girl riding a tricycle on the opposite sidewalk passed just in time to hear a terrifying scream and see a lot of blood stain the street. A dark thing covered in red ran down the road. 

The little girl cried as hard as she could after Rebecca crashed on the floor. 

__________________________________________________ 

Mulder was on Scully's couch staring at the ceiling, he was worried sick but the only thing he could do was wait. When detective Bennet gave him Scully's message that afternoon, he tried to talk to her but when she answered her phone all he could hear was her indisputable but for the moment muffled voice and something about a hammer, after that, nothing. 

Not hearing something from her since late afternoon was not reassuring. It was 10:15 pm and he felt impatient. 

He then heard the lock from Scully's front door shift and soft humming. It was her. Mulder's heart swelled, he really wanted to see her, specially since Dr. Barnes called him with the autopsy results, because when he finished reporting what he found, he told Mulder that his assistant couldn't stop praising Scully and her AC/DC shirt along with her really tight black pants and combat boots after she left. Mulder asked Dr. Barnes if he was really referring about Scully as he couldn't picture her examining a body in AC/DC shirts and combat boots but Dr. Barnes was absolutely sure of what he was talking about. Mulder really needed to see that. 

He was far from disappointed when he saw her cross her threshold. 

__________________________________________________ 

In his way to the basement, Mulder called Scully several times but she didn't answer. Every ring of the phone that went unanswered, was a ring that created a huge whole in his stomach, the feeling had started after her abduction years back and kept happening ever since, just the thought of her in danger made his heart sink and left his head in the verge of exploding. 

With one hand holding the phone to his ear and his heartbeat practically on his throat, Mulder searched for the office keys on his pocket while he was still on the elevator. When he got out, he noticed that a young, fairly pretty woman, was standing in front of the door holding a folder in one of her hands and tapping the floor with her right foot. 

"Can I help you with something?" Mulder asked stopping at the middle of the hallway, reluctantly hanging up the phone. 

"Are you Agent Fox Mulder?" The woman asked stretching her hand to shake Mulder's after he gave her a nod. 

"I'm detective Caroline Bennet from the metropolitan police department. I was informed of an unusual crime scene this morning and somebody told me you could help me" 

Mulder opened the office door barely intrigued. "So, tell me detective Bennet, what can I do for you?" he asked. 

"Well, Agent Mulder, this morning there was a call to report a dead body on Foxhall Crescent" Bennet started " It was the body of a young woman named Rebecca Ziegler... something seemed to have, uh, how do I say it... something popped out of her abdomen after destroying her internal organs while she was taking a run earlier today, around her neighbourhood." Bennet gave Mulder the case folder so he could read the details. 

What detective Bennet said, had been soft words against the facts that were shown on the folder pictures. Something pretty much destroyed the victim's stomach area to escape and left blood traces all over the street. What Mulder could not understand was how the victim went out for a run and not feel that something was inside of her, wrecking her. 

"Here says that before the call that let the police know about the body, there was a previous one describing the scene before it happened" Mulder voiced not taking his eyes from the folder. 

"Yes, the call was made two hours before the victim died.The thing is, Agent Mulder, the call was made by her father but he's been dead for ten years. The victim's mother recognised his voice from the recording held by the 911 operators " 

Mulder was interested now. He could almost hear Scully's voice in his head saying how improbable it was that somebody could recognise a voice they haven't heard in ten years, which made everything even more appealing. He wanted, no, needed Scully's help. 

Mulder agreed to help detective Bennet on the case, so after he called Dr. Barnes to ask him if he could wait for him and Scully, he called her. She didn't take too long to answer this time. 

"Hello?" just the sound of her voice made Mulder feel like his world was filled with light and soothing musicality. He knew it was a rather embarrassing thought, but it was how listening to her felt. 

"Hey Scully, it's me. How you doing?" 

There was a short pause before she answered "I'm fine" 

This time he was the one who made a pause not sure what this  I'm fine  meant. They would always have thousands of meanings. "Great... look, a case just got here and there's a body I want you to take a look at the morgue. Dr. Barnes will be waiting for us after we check the crime scene. It happened on Foxhall Crescent, Palisades park through Ashby street, the victim went out for a run but in the middle of it something destroyed her insides. Besides that, somebody claiming to be her father called two hours before the victim died warning the police about what was going to happen, though the father's been dead for ten years. Don't you think is weird, Scully?" 

"Yeah, it is..." she said absentmindedly. Scully sounded too distracted. 

"So, I'll see you at the crime scene" 

"You know what? I'll go to the office of the medical examiner and take a look at the body. I'll let you know if I find something" She was too cutting and didn't give him a chance to say anything. It was not uncommon of her to make an autopsy first than go to a crime scene but he felt that Scully was avoiding him. 

__________________________________________________

Mulder and Bennet arrived, after a short 16 minute drive, to Ashby street on Foxhall Crescent. It was miraculously void of curious spectators and a wide range of police tape covered a part of the block as dark and now dry blood stains were spread across the perimeter. 

A police officer approached them giving Bennet a small nod. 

"It's the first time I've ever seen a crime scene with no civilians peeking around, Gale" Bennet said to the officer. 

"Well, the people who live around the block are pretty altered, specially the little girl who lives across the street. She saw the whole thing." Gale replied "The neighbourhood doesn't want anything to do with this" He added more to himself than for Bennet and Mulder. "As you can see, the victims blood was smeared all over the place" 

"By what?" Mulder asked being careful with the steps he gave on the ground. 

"By an animal, perhaps. The traces end by the sewer so maybe a rat" Gale started to direct them to the house of the poor little girl that saw Rebecca Ziegler die. 

While walking, Bennet asked if they found out something about the call before the incident. "The call was made from a public phone downtown. There were surveillance cameras but there was nobody using it, not even a person near by" Gale answered with a confused look. 

Mulder stopped in the middle of the street when he noticed a man arriving at the other side of the police cord looking intently at everything concerning the crime scene. He was wearing and awry smile. 

Mulder had a bad feeling about him, partially because he looked incredibly out of place somehow but mainly because he was the only person who seemed to be immerse on what was on Mulder's side of the cord. He told detective Bennet to talk to the little girl while he talked to that man to ask if he saw something. Once the man saw Mulder getting closer he started to back off, luckily one of the police officers that was around saw Mulder's intentions and stopped the man for him. 

"I... I just wanted to know what was going on" The man said defensively getting pale when he faced Mulder "I knew Rebecca and saw the police patrols on her house. I just wanted to know. I'm not under arrest, am I?" 

Mulder narrowed his eyes, the man's reaction had been practically self-inflicted. Mulder hadn't even said a thing for him to talk, though must people get a little defensive when a law officer gets close "No, you are not but if you want to know what happened I guess you don't mind answering some questions at the police station if you knew Ms. Ziegler as you say. Quid pro quo, right?" 

"I'd like to answer your questions but I have to get to work" 

"I don't think it would take too long. Your boss won't mind, Mr..." The officer that had stopped the man said. 

"Nelson, Andrew Nelson... And I am my own boss" 

"Even better" Mulder said and The Officer nodded. Mulder knew The officer had the same suspicions he had about Nelson. 

When Bennet got out of the girl's house, both took Nelson to the police station. 

__________________________________________________ 

"So you knew Rebecca Ziegler..." Mulder said engaging Nelson in a conversation. 

"Yes she is... was my neighbour. Unfortunately I didn't know her that well, she moved in only two months ago" Nelson was wearing a challenging look, a completely different expression from the one he had at the crime scene minutes ago. 

"Did you ever talk to her?" 

"Yes, we ,uh, very often talked after dusk when she got back from work. I've always thought dusk cleanses the air and I feel I'm right, after all she got back at dusk and her presence cleansed my air" 

Mulder narrowed his eyes. He thought red flags would start to come out of Nelson's head "You talked very often... I thought you said you didn't know her well" 

"I don't. We talked but not about deep nor scabrous details of her personal life, we instead talked about gardening" 

"If you don't mind me asking, where were you this morning Mr. Nelson, between let's say six and eight?" Mulder was trying to be somehow amicable but for some reason he felt disgusted by Nelson's presence which made everything more difficult. 

"Watering my dahlias and planting some new before getting ready for work. People would say it normally wouldn't take that long to do it, but it is hard work Agent Mulder, if you don't do it right, they'll die in no time" 

Mulder could sense something was definitely wrong with that man. He had made emphasis at the word  die  "anybody saw you?" 

"Yes, Mrs. King across the street went to ask for some sugar while I was doing it. You can ask her" 

"What about yesterday? Did you have any contact with Ms Ziegler?" 

"In the morning we talked in my backyard about garden lilies, delicate flowers, like her. It was the only time in two months we saw each other in the morning. We didn't say much, she told me she had important errands to do, so I let her go. I spent the rest of the day at the dentist office where I work" 

Mulder asked other questions to find a connection but to no avail as he found nothing against Nelson. Once Bennet checked his story, Mulder would have to let him go, even if he felt it was wrong. 

After Bennet called the dentist office Nelson claimed to work at and corroborated his story with a secretary, she remembered Scully's call. 

"Agent Mulder, I almost forgot to tell you that Agent Scully called a few minutes ago" Bennet saw how Mulder's features softened. 

"Did she have the autopsy results?" 

"No, she said Dr. Barnes will call you instead of her so you should expect his call" 

Mulder wondered if that meant Scully was not going to help him in the case anymore. He grabbed his phone from Bennet's desk, which he had unconsciously left at the metal detector by the entrance, the detective had been kind enough to take it with her. He dialled Scully's number but she didn't answer. Before making his fifth attempt his phone rang and an invisible weight lifted. 

"Hey Scully, Detective Bennet told me..." But he was suddenly interrupted by a voice that wasn't Scully's. The invisible weight came back. 

"Agent Mulder?... this is Dr. Barnes from the Medical Examiner's office with the results of the autopsy, Dr. Scully told me to call you and her when they were ready" 

"Did you already talked with Agent Scully?" Mulder asked with a quavering voice. 

"No, unfortunately I couldn't reach her. I left her a message on her answering machine" 

Mulder sighed pressing the bridge of his nose with two fingers "Tell me, Dr. Barnes, what do you have?" 

__________________________________________________ 

Andrew Nelson got out of the police station with his hands inside the front pockets of his pants. The wind outside was blowing in his ears making a lot of noise but he was not listening to it, he was listening to the voice inside his head. Sometimes it would sing, sometimes it would scream but it was always nice to talk back to it, it gave him security upon his decisions. Right now it was whistling. 

"Why are you so fucking happy? the police almost caught us" Nelson said in a whisper. 

"Oh come on, they have no suspicions. We did a good job, Andy."  The voice replied cheerfully. 

"We have to be careful, they can't find out what we did to Becky. Showing up where she died was a bad, bad idea. If we hadn't been there the police wouldn't have suspicions over us." 

"Well, first of all, she hated being called Becky, and second, how would I have known the crime scene would be empty and we would be the only people there. Anyways, we were thorough with what we did to Rebecca and there's no way the police nor the FBI finds something against us, just chill, they'll run out of clues and forget all about it. We will be fine." 

The voice inside Nelson's head made him stop doubting after a few minutes of self struggle, erasing his doubts over the many questions Agent Mulder made him and how suspicious of him he had looked. After a while he was not longer worried about what the police could find. The voice was right, there were no direct links to him besides being Rebecca's neighbour and as he said, they barely knew each other. Everything would be fine. 

Nelson took a cab to get to work. In the meantime he thought about Rebecca and how much he would have liked to see the aftermath of his work. He also thought about her hair, her beautiful and long auburn hair. Unfortunately she dyed it black a few days ago which disappointed him deeply. She had changed and that made him sad, but he wouldn't think about it anymore, he would focus on work now and let Rebecca slip away from his memories, she was gone and no longer worthy of his thoughts, maybe if he was lucky he would be able to meet another praiseworthy woman, one that would not change and be only his. 

When he got to work he was greeted by his secretary and the first patient of the day. It all went eventless, not even Rebecca crossed his mind breaking the peace that surrounded him. 

At 6:30 pm Nelson's last patient arrived and he was excited to the core. She had wavy auburn hair. He smiled and told his secretary to get home early. 

"Well, well. After all we didn't have to wait that long for another treat, huh?"  Nelson's head voice made an appearance. 

"No, no we didn't" Nelson whispered. 

"Excuse me, did you say something?" The woman asked. She was soft-spoken. 

"No, not at all. Please take a seat" 

The woman complied and smiled at him, Nelson returned the gesture masquerading his intentions. 

"We're going to have some much fun, Andy!"  Nelson's head voice chimed. 

__________________________________________________ 

Dr. Barnes' told Mulder that with Scully's notes he didn't even need to double check her findings as everything was written with meticulous detail, she had been painstakingly precise to describe what she found, even stating examples of medieval procedures to make comparisons with. The main details of the autopsy referred to the victim having traces of compound 347 and sevlofurane, both of them used as anaesthetics, also, the broken stitches that Scully found didn't belong to the victim but to the animal that was put inside of her through her throat. Her trachea was extremely lacerated. According to the test made with remnants left by the animal, it was proven to be a rat. Both Dr. Barnes' and Scully were not entirely sure how, with the procedure the victim endured, she was still able to go out for a run, though Dr. Barnes attributed it to her mild drugged state how she didn't figure out the magnitude of her situation. 

Even after all the information, what created a stupid grin on Mulder's face was what Barnes' said last. Scully wearing an AC/DC shirt, tight black pants and combat boots while working. He couldn't fully picture it as he always saw Scully on formal, let's say, settings. She wore a sundress recently, yes, but this was a whole new level, a level he was not going to miss. 

Mulder asked some officers to keep some track at Nelson. He was not ready to throw away his hunch about the man. In the meantime he and Bennet went to Rebecca's workplace and interviewed some of her coworkers. Apparently she had no issues with anybody in the office, she had always been kind and willing to help. Rebecca's coworkers also told Mulder and Bennet that she spent most of her time there than at home, that's why they had been concerned when she didn't show up the day before, they tried to contact her but never ended up talking to her, they tried not to worry although it had to be bad if she was impossible to reach.

Bennet and Mulder also made a small round through Rebecca's neighbourhood but they still had no suspect, the mysterious phone call made by her  father  was also a dead end. They were not exactly sure where to take from now. 

Once again at the police station Mulder sat at a desk an read the autopsy report that Dr. Bennet faxed him along with some copies of Scully's notes. She had certainly been thorough with her findings. Mulder sighed and took his phone out, he was dying to talk to Scully, he didn't want to get too invested in this case before hearing something from her, he knew that once he got too close, his nature was of shutting everything out that didn't concern work and Scully could be one of those things. Two rings went by but he didn't hear much of her, there was static on the line and nothing could be clearly heard. He tried again but it was a waste of time. 

The day eventually gave way to the night and Mulder was reviewing the paperwork once more, looking at a background check on Andrew Nelson with nothing useful when Bennet rushed past him and over her shoulder she yelled "Agent Mulder, you need to listen to this!" 

Mulder got up from the chair and followed Bennet to one of the offices from the station were 5 other people already gathered. He gave Bennet an inquisitive look when she approached him and she pushed a button from a recording. 

"911, what's your emergency?" the recording started 

"My granddaughter is going to die" The voice of an old lady answered, she sounded pretty anxious "She's so young, you have to help her please..." 

"Ma'am could you tell me where you are? Are you with your granddaughter?" 

"Please... help her. Her name is Lauren... it's..." 

The recording stopped abruptly and Mulder frowned "It's the same thing Rebecca Ziegler's father said, of course changing what's obvious" Bennet said to him. 

"Did you tracked the call?" Mulder asked crossing his arms over his chest. By the time he asked, a man entered the office "The call was made two blocks away from the first victim's house" 

Some wires connected inside Mulder's head and he got out as fast as he could. Bennet followed close behind "Where are you going?" she asked trying to keep his pace. 

"To see Rebecca Ziegler's neighbour " he answered almost running, getting to his car "Call backups and I'll see you there" 

_________________________________________________ 

Nelson turned on the radio of his car and sang  Knives out  at the top of his lungs on his way home. He had used a tank of nitrous oxide from his office to make his patient docile enough to take her to his car. He couldn't believe nobody had seen him put a giggling woman on the trunk. When she was there he put in a coarse and rush manner an IV on the back of her hand with sevlofurane and waited a little for it to take effect, she would sleep for a while. When they get to his house she would be fairly awake for a small game, an entertaining one. Maybe not so much for her. 

The voice inside his head was singing along with him in a joyful way, even when the song was not cheerful. They both were pretty excited for what they were going to do next. 

Nelson parked his car on his front entry, stretching his arms when he got out of the car and thinking of Darwin, kill or be killed. He adored this time of the day, the part where the sun started to hide and welcomed the darkness. The street lamps were not on yet, it was the perfect time to drag the red headed cutie out from his trunk and nobody would notice. 

A contented sigh pierced his lips when he opened the trunk finding his new lady sleeping soundly. He grabbed her slowly by the back of her shoulders and the crook of her knees pulling the woman out softly, keeping the bag from the IV resting on top of her stomach. 

"Ahhh, we have lots and lots of work to do" He said starting to walk towards the house. 

"No, we don't" 

Nelson was startled with the foreign male voice and almost dropped the woman on his arms. 

"Leave her on the floor, gently, and turn around with your hands up" 

Nelson obeyed and by the time he turned around, after all, he wasn't so surprised to find Agent Mulder pointing at him with a gun. Nelson laughed bitterly "Of course it had to be you." 

Both Mulder and Nelson started to see red and blue lights while the woman on the floor stirred lightly on the pavement, opening her eyes slowly. Nelson could not believe how fast this was over, he was handcuffed thinking that he could have achieved so much. 

__________________________________________________ 

"Why going to the crime scene?" Bennet asked feeling rage rising inside of her. 

"I had to see what I did. Unfortunately the police took Rebecca's body before I found out how far she got when the rat went out. So I showed up later for the aftermath." 

"Why did you do it?" Mulder asked now, feeling how an evil air emanated from Nelson and his wicked grin. 

Nelson laughed in a way that made Bennet's blood freeze in her veins. He had nothing to lose so he talked. 

"Because I wanted to put something inside her that matched her goddamn awful personality. A rat seemed proper for the occasion." 

"What did she do to you?" Bennet was truly horrified. 

"She changed her hair colour" Nelson replied with an adenoidal tone, as if that simple action was the most despicable thing somebody could ever do. 

"She used to have beautiful auburn hair. I complimented her for it but the very next day she dyed it black. I knew it was because of me, the expression she had when I told her how astonishing she was with her red hair, made me realise how ungrateful she could be. I let it pass. Every day that went by I saw her go to work at the same time I water my garden, hoping she would be back as the lovely red haired woman I first met" Mulder thought that this man was proving to be a worth rival to Pfaster's fucked up mind and thanked to whatever superior force that was out there that Scully was no longer involved in the case. 

"It never happened, so as a delicate flower I told you she was, Agent Mulder, I thought she just needed to be redirected to the sunlight, she wouldn't survive in the shadows, I complimented her on other things, in many different ways but I always got the same results. At the end I got tired of her rude manners... The girl you found me carrying out of the trunk of my car was just as unappreciative as Rebecca... did you see her hair? beautiful. She didn't know how to take compliments either... oh, by the way, you have no idea of the magnificent things you can do with laughing gas, Detective Bennet" Nelson finished with a honeyed voice as if he read Bennet's next question on her forehead. 

_________________________________________________ 

Mulder drove the heels of both hands to the socket of his eyes and took a deep breath. He was grateful Nelson had not met Scully, just thinking about him hurting his partner or at least having thoughts about her made his blood boil, but now everything was over and the possibility wouldn't be there. 

He was tired and wanted to go home, but he still hadn't heard from her. He would make a stop at Scully's house and finally see her, they could talk about the case, or not, he would talk about anything with her, no matter the topic as long as he could listen to her voice. 

After saying goodbye to Bennet and listening to her thanking him almost a million times, he got on his car and drove to get to Scully's place. He was grateful that the case didn't take more than a day so he could spent some time with her. 

When he arrived he knocked on her door but realised she was not there. It was only 7:30pm, she could still be making an small errand, maybe she was at the grocery store, Mulder convinced himself she wouldn't take too long. 

He still didn't want to get home before seeing her, so he took his spare key out, got inside and sat on the couch without turning the lights on. In spite of himself, he soon fell asleep, it was a heavy slumber and a barely comfortable one. 

When he opened his eyes he checked his wristwatch. Mulder sat fast feeling lightheaded afterwards when he noticed it was 10:10 pm, Scully still wasn't there and that worried him. Mulder rubbed his eyes and looked for his phone without a result, he had left it in the car. He stared at the ceiling trying to convince himself that she was fine. 

Five minutes went by when the front door clicked and Mulder felt absolutely relieved. He identified some parts from  In a Gadda da Vida  coming out from Scully's lips in small whispers and hums. 

"Hey, Scully" He said not moving from his spot on the couch, betraying his cool demeanour for sounding like an overly excited puppy. 

"Hey, Mulder" she greeted him with a smile. Mulder was entirely mesmerised with her, he felt unreasonably jealous because Dr. Barnes had seen Scully like this before him. 

"I didn't scare you, did I?" He said, thinking about getting a bucket to gather his current drool. 

"Nope, I saw your car outside" 

That shirt was definitely a turn on. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this chapter ready since January but I didn't want to post it until I had the whole story finished, unfortunately I only have drafts for the next chapters and I'm still not enterily sure how long it will take me to put chapter 9 in here along with the others, though I promise to do my best.  
> Thanks for stopping by.

**Author's Note:**

> This story will have short chapters but if good ideas hit me, that might change.  
> Thank you for taking the time to read my nonsense. Cheers!


End file.
